Master of Arts

thesisThe history of Internet based political campaigning in the United States underestimates the influence of wrestler turned politician Jesse Ventura. This thesis shows how Jesse Ventura's campaign helped shape twenty-first-century Internet politics, examining details of the gubernatorial candidate's message and techniques. Beginning with the Internet's influence on the elections of 1994 and 1996, this research shows that the introductory age of political Internet technology reached new heights with Jesse Ventura's unprecedented use of the medium. The story of techno-political fusion reveals an American political system always evolving and adapting in an ever-changing environment

Effect of different concentrations of phenol on growth of some fungi isolated from contaminated soil

Phenol concentration in 25 water samples collected from three Egyptian Governorates (El- Gharbia, Kafer El-Sheik and El-Menofia) was assayed. The wastewater collected from El-Mehalla El-Kobra II (El- Gharbia governorate) was the most polluted sample with phenol and was equal to 0.0 88 mg/L. Czapeks medium was the most suitable among the other tested media for the growth of Hormodendrum bergeri, Fusarium oxysporum and Aspergillus flavus var. coulmnaris. However, where they were able to grow in the media containing 0.1 g/100 ml phenol, they failed to grow in the potato dextrose medium (PDA) with 0.14 g/100 ml phenol. On the other hand, the efficiency of Aspergillus ochroceus to grow on phenol was low when compared with H. bergeri, F. oxysporum and A. flavus var. coulmnaris. The growth of H. bergeri, F. oxysporum and A. flavus var. coulmnaris was optimum on the medium that contained 0.1 g/100 ml phenol after 6 days. The addition of a mixture of vitamins (B1 + B6 + B12) at 0.1% (w/v) to Cazpeks medium enhanced the growth of H. bergeri, F. oxysporum and A. flavus var. coulmnaris in the presence of phenol. Growth in the presence of phenol induced some morphological modification in both F. oxysporum and A. flavus var. coulmnaris.Key words: Phenol, growth, fungi, morphological changes

Shocks and Universal Statistics in (1+1)-Dimensional Relativistic Turbulence

We propose that statistical averages in relativistic turbulence exhibit universal properties. We consider analytically the velocity and temperature differences structure functions in the (1+1)-dimensional relativistic turbulence in which shock waves provide the main contribution to the structure functions in the inertial range. We study shock scattering, demonstrate the stability of the shock waves, and calculate the anomalous exponents. We comment on the possibility of finite time blowup singularities.Comment: 37 pages, 7 figure

Lyapunov exponent of the random frequency oscillator: cumulant expansion approach

We consider a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator with a random frequency, focusing on both the standard and the generalized Lyapunov exponents, $\lambda$ and $\lambda^\star$ respectively. We discuss the numerical difficulties that arise in the numerical calculation of $\lambda^\star$ in the case of strong intermittency. When the frequency corresponds to a Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, we compute analytically $\lambda^\star$ by using a cumulant expansion including up to the fourth order. Connections with the problem of finding an analytical estimate for the largest Lyapunov exponent of a many-body system with smooth interactions are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Conf. Series - LAWNP0

Response to arXiv:0811.3876 "Comment on a recent conjectured solution of the three dimensional Ising model" by Wu et al

This is a Response to a recent Comment [F.Y. Wu et al., Phil. Mag. 88, 3093 (2008), arXiv:0811.3876] on the conjectured solution of the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model [Z.D. Zhang, Phil. Mag. 87, 5309 (2007), arXiv:0705.1045]. Several points are made: 1) Conjecture 1, regarding the additional rotation, is understood as performing a transformation for smoothing all the crossings of the knots; 2) The weight factors in Conjecture 2 are interpreted as a novel topologic phase; 3) The conjectured solution and its low- and high-temperature expansions are supported by the mathematical theorems for the analytical behavior of the Ising model. The physics behind the extra dimension is also discussed briefly.Comment: 11 pages, 0 figure

Uniqueness of Gibbs Measure for Models With Uncountable Set of Spin Values on a Cayley Tree

We consider models with nearest-neighbor interactions and with the set $[0,1]$ of spin values, on a Cayley tree of order $k\geq 1$. It is known that the "splitting Gibbs measures" of the model can be described by solutions of a nonlinear integral equation. For arbitrary $k\geq 2$ we find a sufficient condition under which the integral equation has unique solution, hence under the condition the corresponding model has unique splitting Gibbs measure.Comment: 13 page

Mutual information rate and bounds for it

The amount of information exchanged per unit of time between two nodes in a dynamical network or between two data sets is a powerful concept for analysing complex systems. This quantity, known as the mutual information rate (MIR), is calculated from the mutual information, which is rigorously defined only for random systems. Moreover, the definition of mutual information is based on probabilities of significant events. This work offers a simple alternative way to calculate the MIR in dynamical (deterministic) networks or between two data sets (not fully deterministic), and to calculate its upper and lower bounds without having to calculate probabilities, but rather in terms of well known and well defined quantities in dynamical systems. As possible applications of our bounds, we study the relationship between synchronisation and the exchange of information in a system of two coupled maps and in experimental networks of coupled oscillators

Integrating transposable elements in the 3D genome

Chromosome organisation is increasingly recognised as an essential component of genome regulation, cell fate and cell health. Within the realm of transposable elements (TEs) however, the spatial information of how genomes are folded is still only rarely integrated in experimental studies or accounted for in modelling. Whilst polymer physics is recognised as an important tool to understand the mechanisms of genome folding, in this commentary we discuss its potential applicability to aspects of TE biology. Based on recent works on the relationship between genome organisation and TE integration, we argue that existing polymer models may be extended to create a predictive framework for the study of TE integration patterns. We suggest that these models may offer orthogonal and generic insights into the integration profiles (or "topography") of TEs across organisms. In addition, we provide simple polymer physics arguments and preliminary molecular dynamics simulations of TEs inserting into heterogeneously flexible polymers. By considering this simple model, we show how polymer folding and local flexibility may generically affect TE integration patterns. The preliminary discussion reported in this commentary is aimed to lay the foundations for a large-scale analysis of TE integration dynamics and topography as a function of the three-dimensional host genome

2-Aminophenoxazine-3-one and 2-amino-4,4α-dihydro-4α,7-dimethyl-3H-phenoxazine-3-one cause cellular apoptosis by reducing higher intracellular pH in cancer cells

We examined intracellular pH (pHi) of ten cancer cell lines derived from different organs and two normal cell lines including human embryonic lung fibroblast cells (HEL) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in vitro, and found that pHi of most of these cancer cells was evidently higher (pH 7.5 to 7.7) than that of normal cells (7.32 and 7.44 for HEL and HUVEC, respectively) and that of primary leukemic cells and erythrocytes hitherto reported (≤7.2). Higher pHi in these cancer cells could be related to the Warburg effect in cancer cells with enhanced glycolytic metabolism. Since reversal of the Warburg effect may perturb intracellular homeostasis in cancer cells, we looked for compounds that cause extensive reduction of pHi, a major regulator of the glycolytic pathway and its associated metabolic pathway. We found that phenoxazine compounds, 2-aminophenoxazine-3-one (Phx-3) and 2-amino-4,4α-dihydro-4α,7-dimethyl-3H-phenoxazine-3-one (Phx-1) caused a rapid and drastic dose-dependent decrease of pHi in ten different cancer cells within 30 min, though the extent of the decrease of pHi was significantly larger for Phx-3 (ΔpHi = 0.6 pH units or more for 100 µM Phx-3) than for Phx-1 (ΔpHi = 0.1 pH units or more for 100 µM Phx-1). This rapid and drastic decrease of pHi in a variety of cancer cells caused by Phx-3 and Phx-1 possibly perturbed their intracellular homeostasis, and extensively affected the subsequent cell death, because these phenoxazines exerted dose-dependent proapoptotic and cytotoxic effects on these cells during 72 h incubation, confirming a causal relationship between ΔpHi and cytotoxic effects due to Phx-3 and Phx-1. Phx-3 and Phx-1 also reduced pHi of normal cells including HEL and HUVEC, although they exerted less proapoptotic and cytotoxic effects on these cells than on cancer cells. Drugs such as Phx-3 and Phx-1 that reduce pHi and thereby induce cellular apoptosis might serve as benevolent anticancer drugs